PM targets hazardous industries

ATTENTIVE: Guests listen to Prime Minister John Key during a Wairarapa Chamber of Commerce lunch at the Copthorne Solway in Masterton. TOP: Mr Key poses for a selfie with Dylan Walsh, 17, of Masterton.

There are still unacceptably high levels of quad-bike accidents, Prime Minister John Key says, describing the recent death of Carterton farmer Hamish McLennan as "terrible".

Mr Key, speaking to the Times-Age at the Copthorne Solway in Masterton yesterday after a Wairarapa Chamber of Commerce lunch, said new health and safety regulations for New Zealand's riskiest industries should help address the problem.

A health and safety reform bill, which was due to take effect later this year, would tighten up on the laws around quad bikes, he said.

"If you look at quad-bike accidents, there is still an unacceptably high level of quad bike accidents and the challenge for us is to accept that, obviously for farmers, it's not just their place of work but it's also their home - they need the flexibility.

"We don't want to drown them in red tape, but we do need to see a reduction in the number of deaths.

"It's tragic for those families and too late by the time we get to it."

Agriculture, forestry, mining and construction were New Zealand's most dangerous industries, Mr Key said.

"The new health and safety laws are coming in and they will put new and more stringent requirements on some businesses - and to a certain degree the rural sector will be affected a bit by that ... we are very conscious on the one hand of not drowning out business with new regulations, but on the other recognising that workplaces need to be safer."

The Government was helping Wairarapa businesses by continuing to review business regulations, he said.

"We have to make sure that they have the infrastructure, broadband, roading, stable electricity networks - all those things - and the second thing is they need access to international markets so that when we go and sign these free trade deals it's not a theoretical thing ... The third thing is we do have to continually look at whether the rules and regulations around business are appropriately set."

The Copthorne lunch was part of the Prime Minister's whistle-stop tour of Wairarapa, which kicked off with a meeting at Juken New Zealand and concluded with a visit to Fonterra.

Those dining with Mr Key included leading Wairarapa businesspeople and all three mayors, who tucked into a dessert of mini-pavlovas, chocolate brownies and miniature tarts, while the Prime Minister spoke about interest rates, oil prices, export markets, education, the Resource Management Act and the Christchurch rebuild.

Mr Key highlighted the strength of New Zealand's "rock-star economy", saying economic growth was robust at about 3.5 per cent. Although dairy prices were weak, forestry prices were strong and manufacturing was returning to New Zealand, Mr Key said.

"Chinese manufacturing is closing down and stuff is coming back to New Zealand."

With countries like Indonesia and India becoming more prosperous, there were great opportunities for exporters, he said.

"The long-term outlook from Asia is huge, and it's not just China.

"When people get wealthy they buy protein ...

"The average Indonesian person consumes 2.1kg of beef per person per year - my son eats that on a Saturday night. The average Kiwi eats 50kg a year.

"So as they get wealthier, they are eating a lot more beef, a lot more dairy and a lot more everything."